When I first wrote the article that this blog post is based upon, I had just finished reading a superb book, The Tyranny of Numbers by economist David Boyle (2001). In it, he critiqued our society’s reliance on and obsession…
Number Crunching
Tag: women’s experiences
More evidence for rebozos…
I’ve been really amazed by the number of people who have been in touch to thank me for the two-part article that I have shared over the past few weeks about the evidence for rebozo use. (You can read part…
Women’s experience of vaginal birth after caesarean
Australian researchers have published a review and meta-synthesis of twenty research papers exploring women’s experience of vaginal birth after caesarean in a variety of birth locations. This is an important and valuable piece of work because, although we know that…
Five studies from my reading pile (Autumn 2016)
My recent travels have led to another build-up of my reading pile and, as I do a few times each year, I am sharing a few articles in one post so that I can clear the backlog and keep you…
Delivery method and women’s experiences
A study looking at women’s experiences of different types of birth has again reinforced the idea that we should be doing all we can to promote physiological birth and reduce interventions. (Yes, we also definitely need to work on making…
Another way that induction might be increasing the caesarean section rate?
A few weeks ago, a woman said to a midwife friend of mine, “I really don’t want to have induction if I go overdue. Everyone I know who has one has a horrible lonely experience in the hospital for days…
“You are your own treat…”
“A dancing girl is a revolutionary act – even more so if she is dancing alone, at night, in her bedroom, with her headphones on. A girl who knows how to give herself pleasure is a revolutionary girl. A girl…
How to cancel a labour induction?
“I had an appointment with a consultant last week and was given a date for induction, although I wasn’t really asked whether I wanted it and it was all very fast. There’s no medical reason for inducing me, it’s just…
Women who have caseload midwifery “feel more proud of themselves”…
It has been a good few weeks since we last saw the publication of a study showing the value of midwife-led care compared to other approaches, so it’s very nice of the BJOG to pop one in their journal to…
Midwifery care: what do women want?
A team of Dutch researchers have published an analysis of data gathered from nearly three and a half thousand women who responded to questions about how midwifery care could be improved. I have to say that the findings of this…